AUSTIN -- Shipping horse meat through Texas that's destined for diners elsewhere is illegal, according to an opinion issued this week by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

Texas already bans sale or possession of horse meat for human consumption. Abbott said the prohibition also extends to transporting horse meat that would be eaten by people.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, requested the attorney general's opinion last year after speaking with an attorney for a slaughterhouse in Mexico. Chisum, who supports horse slaughter, said he was disappointed with the attorney general's conclusion.

"Mexico kills horses, whether we like it or not, and people in France eat them. And sometimes the slaughterhouses like to ship the meat out of Corpus or Houston," Chisum said.

Horse meat from Mexico was shipped from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport until last year. The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office tried to stop the shipments and was unsuccessfully sued by two Belgium-owned horse slaughter plants, said Assistant DIstrict Attorney Ann Diamond.

American Airlines has stopped shipping horse meat from Texas, said airline spokesman Tim Wagner.

The attorney general's opinion doesn't address the export of American horses for slaughter in Mexico and Canada.

Thousands of American horses have been sent to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Export of American horses to slaughterhouses abroad has been increasing since such plants were shut down in the U.S., said anti-horse slaughter activist John Holland.

The nation's last horse slaughter plants were closed following court rulings last year.

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Information from: San Antonio Express-News, http://www.mysanantonio.com

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